Sir, – I am writing with regard to the recent spate of illegal gorse fires in the idyllic Blackstairs Mountains (“Extensive gorse fires took hold on Blackstairs Mountains overnight”, News, April 25th).
I saw some video footage of the outbreak, with towering flames and plumes of smoke rising over Mount Leinster, obscuring whole swathes of what is supposedly a special area of conservation.
The blaze destroyed vegetation and rare plants, and consumed precious habitat that supports a variety of birds and mammals, including hen harriers, merlin, golden plover, the magnificent peregrine falcon and the sadly declining red grouse. Other birds, such as skylarks, meadow pipits and pheasants, were also in the affected areas.
Apart from the ecological catastrophe that illegal fires can wreak as they sweep through gorse and heather, leading to an imbalance in the natural order, let’s not forget the suffering inflicted on birds and animals caught in the flames.
RM Block
The State needs to vigorously enforce the ban on illegal burning and impose heavier penalties for the practice.
What’s the point of asserting, at national or local level, our commitment to maintaining and incentivising biodiversity if this annual attack on our upland habitats is allowed to continue?
Those responsible didn’t just burn a bit of gorse. They torched a part of heritage that belongs to all of us. It deserves full protection and to be preserved for future generations. – Yours, etc,
JOHN FITZGERALD,
Callan,
Co Kilkenny.
